[postgis-devel] License

[Ron M]

Paul Ramsey wrote:
> David Fetter from PgSQL has been bugging me about bringing PostGIS
> into PgSQL proper. ....
> 
> I used to just not contemplate this stuff, but things like this
> <http://forge.mysql.com/wiki/GIS_Functions> give me pause. Perhaps I
> am over-valuing the advantage "built-in" features have over add-ons,
> particularly with things like the new PgSQL package distribution
> system.

I'd be even more interested in seeing the PostGIS project
collaborating with & driving the PostgreSQL project to
create a fully functional modules/packages system.

IMHO Perl's greatest strength is the CPAN, not Perl Core, and
likewise Ruby's biggest strength is rubygems.   Postgres's current
add-on module system feels far more cumbersome.

In some ways I'd see PostGIS as a litmus test to show how good/bad
postgres's module system is; as well as being *the* killer-app
that can drive the creation of a great module system.  If PostGIS
gets sucked into core, it pretty much would send the message that
any serious ad-ons need to be in core.

Related to the license issue -- again I think the ability of
postgres to work cleanly and easily with GPL'd add ons is again
one of postgres's strengths demonstrated well by postgis.

Regarding the MySQL link and the marketing aspect - it seems to
me that it'd be great if the postgres project had a list of
officially endorsed external modules and postgres & slony & PL/R
being among those.

> However, I am interested to hear what other people think. Whether
> integrating would be a good idea, in general. Whether attempting to do
> it would be worth the hassle, in practice.